st205 swap Options

[mycelicagt]

I am wanting to do a ST205 3sgte swap but im wondering how reliable the motor actually is, and if you did the swap yourself or had a shop do it all, thanks guys.

[Hanyo]

well, ask yourself: how reliable are toyota motors?

The reliability of the motor is directly reflected by how well you take care of it. such as oil change and regular maintanence.

It also matter how you drive the car. A 3sgte motor handed to an abusive drive will not last more then a week. Or a 3sgte motor given to an old granny who takes it to toyota for maintence will last a life time.

The modifications done to the engine will also reflect engine reliablity. If your boosting 30 pound of boost every day, you will most likely need a new engine after a couple years. But if you keep it stock, it will last as long as toyota designed it to last.

[bccentaur3]

well, ask yourself: how reliable are toyota motors?

The reliability of the motor is directly reflected by how well you take care of it. such as oil change and regular maintanence.

It also matter how you drive the car. A 3sgte motor handed to an abusive drive will not last more then a week. Or a 3sgte motor given to an old granny who takes it to toyota for maintence will last a life time.

The modifications done to the engine will also reflect engine reliablity. If your boosting 30 pound of boost every day, you will most likely need a new engine after a couple years. But if you keep it stock, it will last as long as toyota designed it to last.

30 psi Daily? For 2 years? Your kidding right?

[Hanyo]

30 psi Daily? For 2 years? Your kidding right?

I'm serious, at 30 psi the engine will only last 2.8 year 32 days 12 hours 21 minutes 39 seconds and 4 milli-seconds. Its dyno proven by the toyota engineers that spend 2 billion dollars of research.


Com'on man, get some common sense. There are so many factors to list, there is NO WAY TO TELL HOW LONG AN ENGINE WILL LAST AT CERTAIN PSI. I'm just providing an example with extreme conditions. Lets say i built a 3sgte that will boost 30 psi, but all i do with it is start it up warm it up. take it around the block going 2 miles per hours... Tell me how long this engine will last?

[toyotacrazy]

30 psi Daily? For 2 years? Your kidding right?

I'm serious, at 30 psi the engine will only last 2.8 year 32 days 12 hours 21 minutes 39 seconds and 4 milli-seconds. Its dyno proven by the toyota engineers that spend 2 billion dollars of research.


Com'on man, get some common sense. There are so many factors to list, there is NO WAY TO TELL HOW LONG AN ENGINE WILL LAST AT CERTAIN PSI. I'm just providing an example with extreme conditions. Lets say i built a 3sgte that will boost 30 psi, but all i do with it is start it up warm it up. take it around the block going 2 miles per hours... Tell me how long this engine will last?

Yea, Ive seen a 3rd gen. 3sgte in a mr2 pushing over 30 psi. But, I wonder if its still running to this day...

[bccentaur3]

Well if all you're doing is going 2 mph then obviuosly you won't blow the motor. I thought you were talking about a stock 3sgte boosting only 8 psi. All of the sudden you crank it to 30 psi and run it everyday driving the car where ever you go daily, its not possible it will last 2 years.

[mycelicagt]

i was told that with a swapped motor something usually goes wrong and its in the shop alot, kinda like my friends DSM 97 eclipse. But dont get me wrong i love toyota motors, i just hope once i get the swap done its more reliable than the 5sfe

This post has been edited by mycelicagt: Apr 17, 2007 - 10:59 AM

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

IMO, the words "3SGTE swap" and " repair shop" should never be combined. When you depend on others to make your swap work properly, theres a lack of readiness on behalf of the owner should a problem arise and could make the entire effort of swapping a failure. At the very least, I would suggest having a very strong knowledge base if you were having the swap done for you....but at that point, you could probably do it yourself!

I'm not trying to be a downer, but not everyone's best move is to swap their Celica. Sometimes having what you want in a stock platform that you can take to a shop to be repaired is better suited for you.

A swap can be just as reliable as the motor would have been in its original form, just so long as all the bugs are worked out and diagnosed properly if they should arise.
If you're looking for a drive-and-forget kind of motor like a 5SFE, then a 3SGTE transplant may not be for you....its going to require alot of time under the hood regardless of how well it runs. If its something that you know you want then the best thing to do is bury yourself in research and get your hands dirty until you're confident you can take on a swap, beyond the shadow of a doubt.


I'm swapping a super-clean ST205 engine right now and I love it so far. The details and refinements that Toyota applied to the 3rd gen 3SGTE make me glad I went this route. So to answer the first question, I would reccomend it.

[lagos]

i was told that with a swapped motor something usually goes wrong and its in the shop alot, kinda like my friends DSM 97 eclipse. But dont get me wrong i love toyota motors, i just hope once i get the swap done its more reliable than the 5sfe

its not as reliable as a 5sfe. most of the time you get a 17yr old motor from a junk yard and little things here and there will need to be fixed/replaced along the way. if you do your own swap, youll learn about every inch of your motor, and will be able to diagnose and fix any minor issues that come up a long the way. if you pay a shop to swap it for you, youll just end up in a bad place when its time to fix something very simple. youll have no idea how to fix it and have to pay a shop some crazy amount of money, just to reconnect an intercooler coupler that came loose or something like that.

so bottom line.... if you want a swap under the hood, do it yourself and learn about your car. if you pay a shop to do your swap, youll probably regret it when its time to fix something.

[mycelicagt]

yeah i was thinking of doing it myself since im quite familiar with swaps but nothing that wasnt sold in the US, honda D15-D16 (friends car i will NEVER own a honda) 305 monte carlo SS 87-327, and i am in a Auto Tech class here in town and if i want to i can bring my car there and do the swap but it took us like 2 weeks to pull the motor on an S10 and blazer, thats outrageous when i did the other motors in less than 3 hours

[tangcla]

Stock ST205 gen3 3S-GTE runs 13psi from the factory.

I'm running 20psi with a PowerFC with no problems.

They are reliable engines.

[mycelicagt]

and do you have to take the two harnesses and splice them together or can i just use the 3s only and get rid of the 5s harness

[j0e_p3t]

i was told that with a swapped motor something usually goes wrong and its in the shop alot, kinda like my friends DSM 97 eclipse.

that right there is the problem. dsm's are known for crank walks and other mechanical issues. definitely uncomparable to a toyota engine.

This post has been edited by j0e_p3t: Apr 18, 2007 - 12:49 AM

[mycelicagt]

HAHAHAHA yeah i give him that all the time, i ask him if his car is broken yet and then he takes it out for a drive and i ask him what broke now, his car is ALWAYS getting worked on